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Mathochism: Flex day

One woman’s attempt to revisit the math that plagued her in school. But can determination make up for 25 years of math neglect?
I was tense all day, and tired. Part of this could be blamed on the time change (I want my hour back, dammit!), part on the horrible events in Japan, and part on the expectation that we would get our tests back today.

But we didn’t. Uchitel was apologetic, and I’m willing to give him a pass, since all the tests were handwritten, we have 45 people in the class, and he is teaching four other geometry classes besides mine. Oh, fine. It was kind of nice to get a reprieve. There’s only so much bad news you can hear a week, and there’s way too much crap going on in the world right now.
Anyway, we managed to power through chapter 2, which was a good thing. And I’m happy to report proofs are starting to make more sense now. I feel more comfortable with the vocabulary, with the format and with the concepts. Making flashcards out of the definitions, postulates and theorems helped also.

The class was very quiet today. Either The Arguer wasn’t feeling well, or she wasn’t there (she usually sits behind me, so I don’t necessarily keep track). And Befuddled Girl was less irritable, possibly because Uchitel allowed her to turn in her homework late.

Unfortunately, the next class is cancelled. California’s budget crisis is now requiring public institutions to take a number of furlough days each year, and my college thought taking St. Patrick’s Day off would be a good idea. I don’t. These “flex days,” as they call them, are disruptive and a pain in the ass. We’re already behind (no pun intended), and I worry we won’t get through all the material we’ll need to take pre-calculus. Or even if I’ll be able to take pre-calculus, considering the scant number of sections available.

I realize I’m privileged here, in that this is just for fun. But all these kids in class with me are seeing their futures compromised, with no end in sight.

All text copyrighted by A.K. Whitney, and cannot be used without permission.